THE urban-poor alliance Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay) has accused the National Housing Authority (NHA) and the local government of Navotas City of using the recent fire that gutted 1,200 houses to force the eviction of more residents.
Kadamay noted the same scheme was used to kick out people living on National Irrigation Administation (NIA) Road in Quezon City, which was also hit by a big fire that killed an elderly woman and rendered thousands homeless.
Gloria “Ka Bea” Arellano, Kadamay national chairman, said the people of Navotas, particularly those living around the Navotas Fish Port, and those at NIA Road in Quezon City had long been targeted for demolition and eviction.
“Residents say that even those who were not affected by the fire [that hit the squatter colony at NIA Road] are being intimidated into leaving the area without any relocation plan being offered,” she added.
Compounding the matter is the planned modernization of the Navotas Fish Port, which is under the control of the Philippine Fishports Development Authority (PFDA).
Suspicions have arisen about the cause of the huge fire, with authorities blaming an explosion at a gas station as the reason for the blaze.
Kadamay claimed the same gas station had no supply of gasoline, diesel or kerosene for three days before the fire razed the squatter colony.
“We do not rule out that the fire was instigated by those who stand to gain from this tragedy, especially the local government and the Department of Agriculture, which supervises the PFDA. This fire is no different from the suspicious fires that regularly happen at the central business district project area in Quezon City, which Mayor Herbert Bautista is pushing fervently,” the group added.
“Kadamay said the government and private entities should stop masterminding more tragic incidents that kill, maim and unduly burden the urban poor. Relocation sites that offer little or no public utilities and houses that are beyond the people’s capacity to amortize are but a few of the burdens imposed by government’s neo-liberal policies upon them. They should profit from the people’s sufferings,” the group said in a statement.
Navotas residents have vowed to resist any forcible eviction and relocation and vowed to erect barricades to protect their community, with Kadamay and other progressive organizations lending support to their actions.